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This week’s Louisiana Delta Fishing Report features host Andre’ Savoie with two very different looks at the early-fall fishing transition across southeast Louisiana. Andre’ starts offshore in Venice with Capt. Josh Edwards of Calcutta Gold Fishing, who says one of his favorite times of the year is approaching as yellowfin tuna begin following migrating bait closer to the Mississippi River.
Andre’ then moves inshore with Capt. Frenchy, a New Orleans-area guide and avid fly fisherman who spends much of his time around Shell Beach, Lake Borgne, and the surrounding marshes. Frenchy breaks down a speckled trout transition that remains scattered and shares several ways anglers can use birds, water color, bait activity, and even sound to find fish.
The overall theme is a fishery beginning to change. Venice anglers are preparing for big yellowfin to move closer to shore as mullet and pogies migrate offshore, while inshore anglers are waiting for cooler water to push more speckled trout toward their fall locations.
Conditions Recap
Late September has southeast Louisiana firmly in a transition period, although summer conditions have not completely disappeared.
Offshore of Venice, Capt. Josh Edwards says the coming weeks should begin shifting the yellowfin tuna bite away from the long runs associated with summer fishing. As mullet and pogies move offshore to spawn, tuna follow the bait toward the shelf. By around mid-October, Josh expects to spend more time looking for fish roughly five to 15 miles offshore rather than running to the distant floaters.
Closer to New Orleans, Capt. Frenchy says the inshore transition is taking longer to develop. Water temperatures were still around 86 degrees during a recent trip, and speckled trout have been scattered rather than concentrated in large schools. He is finding trout around Shell Beach and Lake Borgne, but many of the fish in the inside waters remain small.
Frenchy expects the seasonal movement to continue as shrimp migrate through the system and conditions cool. For now, anglers who pay close attention to birds, water clarity, current, and bait activity can still find productive areas even when the fish are not grouped into obvious fall schools.
Venice Fishing Report: Capt. Josh Edwards
Capt. Josh Edwards of Calcutta Gold Fishing says the upcoming fall tuna pattern is one he looks forward to every year. Summer often requires longer runs to offshore floaters, but the fall bait migration changes the equation. Mullet and pogies begin leaving the river and surrounding areas to move offshore, bringing yellowfin and blackfin tuna with them.
Josh expects the major change to develop around the middle of October, when some of the biggest yellowfin begin moving closer to the Mississippi River. Trips that required long offshore runs during summer can turn into fishing only five to 15 miles from South Pass. Rather than heading directly toward a particular rig or floater, Josh may spend time riding and watching for tuna blowing up on schools of mullet and pogies.
Making live bait is an important part of the pattern. Mullet can concentrate around South Pass, although catching them is not always easy. On higher tides they can move onto extremely shallow sandbars where larger offshore boats have difficulty reaching them. On lower water, the bait becomes more concentrated in deeper channels and can be easier to catch with a cast net.
Fall tuna fishing is also less about numbers and more about quality. On some of Josh’s better trips, he has caught four or five yellowfin with fish running roughly 150 to 180 pounds. Yellowfin may be crashing bait at the surface, allowing anglers to watch huge fish feed within casting distance of the boat and target them with live bait or topwater presentations.
One of the biggest challenges is getting those fish to the boat before sharks take advantage. Large dusky sharks can follow the same bait concentrations and quickly turn a hooked tuna into an easy meal. Josh has responded by moving toward heavier tackle designed to shorten fight times. He recently landed a 222-pound yellowfin in approximately five and a half minutes.
Yellowfin are not the only fall option out of Venice. Josh says swordfish in the 150- to 200-plus-pound range are possible, and the swordfish grounds he fishes are only about 17 miles from South Pass. That makes it possible to work a swordfish drop into a tuna trip when the yellowfin bite slows.
Wahoo also begin showing around offshore rigs as fall develops. With summer grass lines beginning to disappear, Josh concentrates more heavily on structure, often trolling diving baits extremely close to the rigs. Wahoo may also appear around the same mullet and pogie schools attracting tuna.
Josh also looked back on a strong red snapper season, with nearly every trip producing a limit. Much of that fishing took place only three to five miles from the river, with good numbers of 18- to 24-inch fish and some much larger snapper mixed in. With that season winding down, the focus now shifts toward tuna, swordfish, and wahoo.
New Orleans And Shell Beach Fishing Report: Capt. Frenchy
Capt. Frenchy fishes the waters east and southeast of New Orleans, including Shell Beach, Lake Borgne, and surrounding marsh areas. Although most of his charter customers use conventional tackle, Frenchy is an avid fly fisherman and spends much of his personal fishing time with a fly rod.
Speckled trout are one of his favorite fly targets, and Frenchy says anglers should not think of Louisiana fly fishing as something limited to shallow-water redfish. He regularly targets trout in many of the same areas where conventional anglers throw plastics, live shrimp, and popping corks. Depending on conditions, he may use floating presentations or switch to weighted flies and sinking lines to reach fish deeper in the water column.
The current trout pattern remains scattered compared with what Frenchy was seeing at the same point last year. The fish are beginning their gradual movement back toward inside waters as shrimp migrate through the system, but many of the trout closer to Shell Beach and Lake Borgne remain small. In some areas, Frenchy estimates most of the fish are between roughly 11 and 13½ inches. Water temperatures around 86 degrees have also kept the fall transition from fully developing.
One of Frenchy’s biggest pieces of advice is to pay attention not just to birds, but to how they are feeding. Larger gulls flying higher and repeatedly diving can indicate shrimp being pushed to the surface by trout, redfish, jacks, or other predators. Birds staying low and simply scooping food from the surface may instead be following feeding catfish.
Finding catfish under birds does not necessarily mean it is time to leave. Frenchy says feeding schools of catfish can stir the bottom enough to create a large cloud of muddy water. Trout generally prefer cleaner water, but they may hold just outside that mud line and take advantage of shrimp, crabs, and other forage disturbed by the catfish.
When Frenchy starts catching catfish in muddy water, he may use his trolling motor to gradually work outward until he finds the edge where brown water meets cleaner green water. Depending on the size of the school, that edge could be 20 yards away or considerably farther. That transition between dirty and clean water can be the most productive part of the entire area.
Frenchy also encourages anglers to occasionally shut the motor down and use their ears. On a calm morning, he says shrimp popping from the water can be heard from a surprising distance. That sound, combined with bird activity, bait movement, water color, current, and surface disturbances, can help anglers locate fish before ever making a cast.
Rather than picking a spot and waiting for something to bite, Frenchy’s approach is to hunt for the fish first and use every available clue to determine where they are feeding.
For more from Capt. Frenchy, visit his FishingBooker page or follow him on Facebook.
Looking Ahead
The next several weeks should bring increasingly noticeable changes both offshore and inshore.
Around Venice, Capt. Josh Edwards is waiting for the offshore bait migration to bring large yellowfin closer to South Pass. As mullet and pogies push offshore, anglers can expect more opportunities to find tuna feeding around bait balls rather than making long runs to distant floaters. Swordfish and wahoo give offshore anglers additional options as the fall pattern develops.
Around Shell Beach and Lake Borgne, Capt. Frenchy expects speckled trout to continue moving toward inside waters as temperatures fall and the seasonal migration progresses. For now, the fish remain scattered, making it especially important to recognize the small details that reveal where feeding fish are located.
For Louisiana anglers, fall is beginning to take shape. Offshore, that means watching for bait balls and trophy yellowfin. Inshore, it means watching the birds, finding the cleaner edge of muddy water, following the shrimp, and paying attention to every clue the marsh provides.
